VulnerabilityPublished 6 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-28679: xemle home-gallery · Path Traversal

Affects xemle home-gallerySource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.6 High : upgrade to 1.21.0 soon.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 19:04 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.6High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 39% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.21.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade home-gallery and xemle/home-gallery to 1.21.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
xemlehome-gallery	Affected <1.21.0	Fixed in 1.21.0
GitHubxemle/home-gallery`pkg:github/xemle/home-gallery`Other threats	Affected <1.21.0	Fixed in 1.21.0

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Upgrade Home-Gallery to version 1.21.0 or later immediately to apply the official patch that enforces proper pathname validation.
If upgrading is not immediately possible, implement web server-level access controls to restrict access to sensitive directories outside the media source directory, such as using directory whitelisting or deny rules.
Employ a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules to detect and block path traversal patterns (e.g., '../') in HTTP requests targeting download endpoints.
Conduct regular audits of file access logs to detect anomalous download requests that may indicate exploitation attempts.
Isolate the Home-Gallery application in a segmented network zone with minimal privileges to limit potential damage from compromise.
Educate administrators and users about the importance of timely updates and monitoring for suspicious activity.
Review and harden filesystem permissions to ensure that the application process has access only to necessary directories and files.
Consider implementing application-layer input validation and sanitization as an additional safeguard against malformed requests.

Description

Home-Gallery.org is a self-hosted open-source web gallery to browse personal photos and videos. Prior to version 1.21.0, when a user requests a download, the application does not verify whether the requested file is located within the media source directory, which can result in sensitive system files being downloadable as well. This issue has been patched in version 1.21.0.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-28679 is unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information due to arbitrary file download capability. Attackers can access system files such as configuration files, password files, or application secrets that reside outside the media directory. This breach of confidentiality can lead to further attacks, including credential theft, lateral movement, or exposure of private user data. Since the vulnerability does not affect integrity or availability, the system's operation remains intact, but the loss of confidentiality alone can have severe consequences, especially in environments with sensitive data. Organizations using Home-Gallery in production or exposed to untrusted networks are at risk of data leakage. The vulnerability's ease of exploitation without authentication or user interaction increases the likelihood of automated scanning and exploitation attempts. This can lead to widespread compromise of vulnerable instances, particularly if the application is internet-facing. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently limits immediate impact but does not reduce the urgency to patch. Failure to remediate could result in data breaches, regulatory non-compliance, and reputational damage.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (Path Traversal) (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #6OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Path Traversal (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 6 Mar 2026, 05:00 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-22

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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